Interaction with transportation systems is a daily fact of life for most everyone. Whether it is a public bus system or private car, getting from one place to another seems increasingly more difficult and costly. Road congestion, burdensome fuel prices and environmental concerns beg for alternatives. Existing alternatives each have their own pluses and minuses. For example, public transportation is relatively inexpensive and safe, but participants are restricted to certain routes and schedules that are unlikely to meet everyone's needs. Use of a private car personalizes routes and schedules, but is expensive in terms of fuel, pollution, and required road infrastructure.
Rideshare programs have been proposed that attempt to match public riders with private drivers. In a rideshare program, a private driver agrees to provide transportation to a rider traveling in generally the same direction at generally the same time. A significant advantage to these rideshare programs is the more efficient use of resources, including cars, fuel and roads. Participants might be slightly inconvenienced in terms of routes and schedules to accommodate the needs of other riders. There are transaction costs to matching riders with drivers in terms of both time and compensation, which must be worthwhile to all parties to encourage use of the system. Examples of rideshare systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,875, issued Nov. 23, 1982 to Behnke and U.S. Pat. No. 6,697,730, issued Feb. 24, 2004 to Dickerson, the disclosure of which are incorporated by reference.
Rideshare programs may also introduce issues for participants not present when they make their own way. For instance, besides destination and time, there may be issues with compatibility and compensation. Participants are prudent to be concerned with their own security when matched with participants previously unknown to them. Monitoring the security of the participants during the trip and the success of the rideshare would also be of benefit. There exists a need to encourage the participation of participants in a rideshare program, to match participants based upon compatibility and to enhance the security of the participants while participating in the rideshare. The present invention provides such methods and systems, among the other advantages described below.